86 PROOF – The lone album from Sacramento, California’s 86 PROOF is Long Hard Rocker. This terrific album was released back in 1994 and is not very easy to find as a CD. I’m certain it was never released on vinyl. Best Metal Buddy Scott Coverdale did find this CD and turned me onto this one-hit-wonder of a Heavy Rock band, therefore…

86 PROOF – Long Hard Rocker Is Stone’s METAL Pick Of The Day!

One can easily classify 86 PROOF as having a Hair Metal sound, while others can call 86 PROOF a Heavy Metal or straight-up Hard Rock band. Regardless, the overall style of this band screams late 80’s, regardless of its 1994 release year. I find it rather interesting, that many new Heavy Metal bands tried very hard to (still) break into the Grunge and Post Grunge era of the 90’s; 86 PROOF is proof of this, (no pun intended).

The opening track, It’s All Mine, has the strong resemblance of MASS meets Killer Dwarfs, while 86 PROOF collectively sounds very much like Mötley Crüe, (Too Fast For Love era), on the track Climb On Topand throughout this album. Venice Straights is an electric guitar instrumental that lasts 1:07 and is a cool listen; only it would have been more fitting for it to appear as the opening or closing track on this album. Go figure. The title track, Long Hard Rocker, is a guitar driven bonus and my favorite song on this album.

There honestly is not a whole lot of information to find, on the internet, about 86 PROOF. Seriously. It’s a shame. I was able to find the album cover (top of post) and a band photo (below):

Any die-hard will surely realize that the lead singer sounds very, very much like Mötley Crüe’s Vince Neil. The production is raw enough for me to fall in love with, proving to me that this band was not trying to sugar coat themselves into the mainstream; that’s always a plus for my ears. I know this may sound cliché, still, if this 86 PROOF album was released between 1984 and 1989, a follow-up or 2 probably would have been likely.

86 PROOF will forever be a small part of Heavy Rock history, there is no doubt. I would have liked to have seen them live; maybe opening for Cinderella or Slaughter? At least this album is for sale on Amazon.com in a digital download format. There currently is a used copy of Long Hard Rocker for sale on ebay; its buy it now price is $29.99 (U.S.). I’ll also add the condition of this used copy on ebay is like new, with the photo of its liner notes and CD supporting that claim.